Congressman Chris Pappas speaks at the ribbon-cutting of Apple Ridge Apartments in Rochester on Thursday, August 18, 2022.
Out gay Rep. Chris Pappas was one of 81 Democrats who voted in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) yesterday, a $895.2 billion military bill that included a provision restricting gender-affirming care for minors. Pappas is co-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus and has a long history of supporting pro-LGBTQ+ legislation, but he was the only out LGBTQ+ Congress member to vote for the NDAA.
A previous version of the NDAA reportedly banned all gender-affirming care covered by the military’s health insurance plan, TRICARE, whereas the current provision only bans any medical treatment for “gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization” for children under 18. It’s unclear if the current legislation would ban puberty blockers (which don’t affect fertility), hormone replacement therapies (which can), or mastectomies (which are rarely ever performed on minors).
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The current version of the NDAA still needs a Senate vote and the signature of President Joe Biden to become law. The Democrat-controlled Senate could potentially remove the provision before passing its own version of the NDAA, and Biden has previously pledged to veto any legislation that harms the LGBTQ+ community.
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LGBTQ Nation reached out to Pappas for comment and will update this article if he responds. The NDAA is an annual bill that regulates how the military budget is spent; it also regulates additional military facets beyond the budget, including funding for projects in congressional districts nationwide.
On Thursday, a group of 45 Senate Democrats sent a letter urging leadership to reject the NDAA’s anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ provisions.
The letter noted that House Republicans have introduced more than 50 anti-LGBTQ+ provisions across all 12 appropriations bills, including the NDAA. The other bills’ provisions would allow taxpayer-funded people and organizations to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. Several of the bills’ other provisions would prevent the administration from enforcing executive orders and laws to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination.
“Partisan, discriminatory, and harmful policy riders have no place in must-pass legislation such as appropriations bills. In the recent past, the Senate has had success passing bipartisan bills in committee because these bills did not contain new poison pill riders,” the letter said.
“Half of the House’s appropriations bills also contain dangerous riders that severely restrict access to gender-affirming care, which would deprive transgender people of critical, medically necessary, evidence-based, and often life-saving healthcare,” the letter continues. “Among those who would be impacted by these riders are the more than 134,000 transgender veterans who rely on the Veterans’ Affairs Administration for their healthcare.”
The letter also noted that, in 2024 alone, more than 574 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced across 42 state legislatures.
A brief history of Pappas’ LGBTQ+ advocacy
Pappas was first elected to Congress in 2018, is the first out member of Congress from New Hampshire, and has served as co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. The centrist Democrat has gotten a score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Congressional Scorecard for his previous sessions in Congress. He was also one of the Advocates for Trans Equality’s inaugural Trans Equality Champions, recognizing legislators who have fought to protect and advance trans rights amidst a surge of federal legislative attacks.
Pappas co-sponsored the Equality Act, a bill that would update existing federal civil rights legislation to explicitly ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. “Every American deserves the same rights and responsibilities, and no one should be discriminated against just because of who they are or whom they love,” he said of the bill.
In January 2024, Pappas was one of three out representatives who asked Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to expedite the process for former LGBTQ+ soldiers still seeking to upgrade their less-than-honorable discharges after being kicked out of the military under “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) and other historic bans on out queer military service members.
In the same vein, in June 2023, Pappas introduced the SERVE Act (Securing the Rights our Veterans Earned). The legislation sought to guarantee and protect Veteran Affairs (VA) benefits for military veterans discharged from the military due to their LGBTQ+ identity.
In June 2023, Pappas introduced a House bill to ban the gay and trans panic defenses in federal courts. In October 2023, he was co-sponsor of a bill to research and create a National Museum of American LGBTQ+ History and Culture. He also voted in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, a law that requires the federal and state governments to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages performed by other states.
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